First Christmas
by shinigamivc
Summary: Haji's very first Christmas with Saya and Joel. A Christmas gift to all who love blood and my stuff very subtle SayaHaji but really, no pairings..


Ok, special Christmas story, Sprung up amidst the 3 other SayaHaji stories I'm writing. This is another 'First Story'. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

For argument's sake, I'm making Haji 12 for this story… he could be 11, he could be 13… it doesn't really matter all that much though. I may never mention it in the story… who knows.

Oh, and I've been forgetting these but…

**Disclaimer: **I, sadly, don't own Blood Plus or it's characters (though I wish I owned Haji…) Anyway, the damn fic is mine, so don't steal, cause I don't have much else.

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_First Christmas_

By Ren (shinigamivc)

Haji sat at the top of the rather large, main staircase of the mansion. He watched quietly as, down the stairs in the main hall, servants were erecting a Christmas tree complete with ornaments and little oil lanterns. To be honest, Haji thought the whole thing was a little ridiculous, and an incredible fire hazard. But still, he sighed and leaned his head against the railing, the lantern light shining in his pale blue eyes; he was excited.

This was his very first Christmas. Until now, he'd only watched people celebrate in from afar: mothers and fathers with gifts wrapped in colorful paper and ribbon, boys and girls around his age asking for gifts from 'Santa'. He had always been secretly jealous of all the warmth and happiness that seemed to flow from the people he saw on Christmas, as he sat in the cold next to his mother and the other gypsies. No one seemed to care about how bitter the air was, or that he and his family were freezing and hungry.

"Excited?" He jumped slightly and looked behind him at Saya. His friend wore the biggest grin he'd ever seen and her mahogany eyes seemed to glow red in the light from the hall. By his count, he'd been living in the mansion for seven months, more or less. In that time, he'd grown quite fond of the girl whom had once been the devil incarnated in his eyes. She too, in the time they had known each other, had grown a soft spot for the boy who Joel had given to her to be her friend. Haji nodded his head slightly, as Saya sat down next to him. "Will you play the cello for Joel on Christmas day?"

"Why don't you play, Saya? You're so much better than me…" Haji said softly. They had been practicing a lot lately, and Haji had grown quite fond of the rather large instrument, but Saya made it sound so much better than he did. In her hands, the cello would sing; in his, it would howl. Saya put her arm over his shoulders and pulled him towards her.

"That's true." Saya was always so kind to him. "But you're getting so much better. Joel should hear."

"…Then I guess I will." He was still planning to get out of it somehow… maybe he could break his thumb?

Saya leaned toward him, still grinning. "This is my favorite time of year! Isn't the tree beautiful?"

"I guess…" Haji's voice was soft as he leaned his head on his kneels and stared at the tree. Saya sighed softly and stared at it as well. "You guess? You always guess…"

"It's very beautiful." He said, glancing at her and frowning. He did _not_ always guess. They were both quiet for a few minutes, just watching the tree. "…Saya… what's Christmas like?"

'You don't know?" She looked at him, seeming shocked. He shook his head and she could see his sorrow; she decided it was best to not push the subject. "Don't worry, Haji. You'll love it!"

She patted his shoulder and stood up, traveling down the large staircase and inspecting the tree from up close. He sighed softly, staying atop the steps. It was late; there would be plenty of time to inspect the tree in the morning.

He yawned once, watching Saya circle the tree and clap her hands together in approval. The tree stood over 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide in the giant hall. He'd never seen such a large Christmas tree before, not even in the squares of towns his family passed through during the holiday season. In the dim light of the lambs and the fire roaring in the fireplace, the scene seemed almost magical. "Haji?"

The young boy jumped again; why was it that everyone was sneaking up on him tonight? He turned his head slightly, peering back at Joel, "Yes, sir?"

"Go to bed my boy, or Père Noël won't come." Joel smiled and Haji stared back at him. "Père Noël… Father Christmas?"

"Yes." The old man seemed sympathetic to the boy, placing a hand on his shoulder; "Father Christmas brings toys to all the good boys and girls on Christmas."

"How can he deliver toys to so many people?" Haji raised an eyebrow to the older man. Joel smiled and winked at him, "He's magic, now go to bed. I'm going to send Saya to bed as well."

"Ok." Haji didn't push the subject. The whole idea of it was ridiculous: a man traveling around the whole wide world, delivering gifts to _all_ the well behaved children. That was impossible, even if magic was a real thing. No one was that fast. Plus - he stood up and descended the staircase, passing Saya on the way - he had never gotten any gifts, and he had never been bad, at least… not very bad.

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"Haji! Haji! Haji!!" Saya was shaking him awake quite roughly. Haji opened his eyes slowly to Saya. She was leaning over his bed, both hands on his shoulders and her hair hanging down and tickling his face. She was wearing a red sleeping gown, decorated with white ribbon and trim; Haji only noticed because of the way it made her eyes seem redder than usual. His cheeks were quickly turning the same color as she leaned closer to his face. Pale blue eyes locked with vivid almost red ones for a moment before he shot up, managing not to collide with her head as he did. She pulled back and smiled; before he could react, she chirped, "You're awake!"

"Saya, what are you--" She had never come to wake him up before… had something happened? Did he sleep too late? She didn't look mad… in fact, she looked extremely happy, "Père Noël came last night! Come see!"

Before he knew it, Saya had seized his arm and dragged him from his sleeping quarters among the other servants, bringing him into the grand hall where the tree rested, towering over everything in it's sight. Saya let Haji go about ten feet from the tree and slid most of the rest of the way on her knees. She grabbed one gift, wrapped in shiny pink paper and gorgeous red ribbon, and shook it gently.

Haji had come to a stop where Saya released him, staring at the tree and the seemingly _hundreds _of colorfully wrapped gifts underneath it. Most were wrapped in the same shiny pink paper with similar magnificent red ribbons, however, quite a few others were wrapped in pale blue paper with thin navy ribbon and there were three or four boxes covered in green. He had never seen so many gifts in his entire life!

"Haji!" There was Saya's voice again, as joyful and spirited as ever. She was holding out one of the gifts wrapped in navy ribbon. "Come here, this gift is for you!"

Haji approached slowly, falling to his knees next to his friend. She handed him the gift and picked up another of her own, shaking it as she had with the last one. Haji rolled the gift over in his hands, staring at it then all the other packages that looked just like it. He looked back at Saya slowly, "Are all those for…?"

"Yes, of course they're for you." Saya said gently, ever smiling. "But you can't open them yet. We have to wait for Joel… you can shake them though, and try to guess."

Saya continued to shake her gifts, but Haji could only stare. This couldn't really be the work of Father Christmas, but then, where did all these gifts come from? As if reading his thoughts, Saya spoke up again, "Wanna know a secret?"

"…Ok," He said and looked at her, still in a daze. Saya looked around and leaned closer to him. "There really isn't a Père Noël."

"Then…?" Haji's voice was a whisper, following Saya's subtlety for the conversation. Saya smiled a bit more and whispered, "It's Joel who buys the gifts."

Haji breathed in deeply; he was perfectly aware that there couldn't really be a Father Christmas, but Joel really bought all those gifts wrapped in blue for him? He was speechless.

"Not sneaking a glimpse at your gifts again, Saya?" As if on cue, Joel entered the room. He smiled at the two sitting on the floor in front of the tree.

"Of course not!" Saya declared, getting to her feet and placing her hands on her hips. "I was telling Haji about Christmas!"

"My, Saya!" Joel watched her through old and kind eyes. "That gown looks beautiful on you! Do you like it?"

"Yes." She grinned, spinning around once in it, allowing it to flow around her feet. Haji stood as she did, watching her and Joel converse. "Thank you for the gift, Joel."

She went over to the old man and kissed him on the cheek, whispering another 'thank you' in his ear. Joel smiled and took Saya's arm; leading her the twenty feet back over to the tree. "Haji, are you enjoying Christmas so far? Have you opened a gift?"

Haji stared at the man as Saya slipped away from him and went back to her presents. His kind face was overwhelming and Haji responded by walking quickly over to him and wrapped his arms tightly around his torso. Joel looked surprise at first, staring down at the boy. Slowly, he wrapped his arms over Haji's shoulders. Haji couldn't hold back the tears as happiness overwhelmed him. "…Thank you."

"Now, now…" Joel said softly, patting the boy's back. "It was Père Noël, remember?"

"Yes…" Haji let go and backed up a few steps to see Joel's face again. He wiped his eyes on his sleeve and smiled wider than he had in a while.

"Can't we start opening gifts yet!?" Saya cut short the touching moment between the two, eyeing a rather large gift around back of the tree. Joel smiled, directing Haji back toward the tree, "Yes, of course, Saya."

Haji fell back down beside Saya as she tore into the presents and picked up one of his own, unwrapping it slowly and savoring every gentle tear of the paper.

Needless to say, Saya had finished opening her gifts first.

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**Merry Christmas!** This is my Christmas gift to all my loyal readers and just any random Blood+ fan that wished to read. Sorry about any spelling/grammar errors, I did this Christmas Eve and day around work and holiday stuff with the family.

**Review as a Christmas gift for me?** (Aren't I subtle? )


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